Chaos Is A Friend Of Mine
by KoaliBear
Summary: Eris Bentley joins the team after a tragedy in San Corona.  Can she learn to work with her team and trust them?


Hello! I published this once, a few years back, and got a decent response, so I thought I'd republish it. I'm going to try to get this worked on and FINISHED! lol

Creative/constructive criticism is more than welcome. I'm always looking to improve. And if you'd like to help me out by being a beta or just someone to bounce ideas off of, please email me :)

* * *

**"Chaos is a friend of mine"**

**Bob Dylan**

A group of camoflauged soldiers, lead by a woman named Eris Bentley, crept slowly through the dense foliage surrounding San Corona in South America. There had been reports of Cobra activity in the area, and G.I. Joe was too busy with other matters to be concerned with an unconfirmed small Cobra force in the South American jungle, so Eris and her team had been sent in. They were part of a small Canadian Special Forces unit that happened to be in the area.

She could hear the other three members of her team breathing quietly in her ear piece, the only sound in the all too quiet jungle apart from her own footfalls. They were now only about fifteen metres from the target area - a small shack ten minutes outside the village.

Activating the communications device at her neck, she whispered the order to stop and find vantage points to scout the area. "Two comm clicks at the first sign of Cobra," she reminded her team. Upon hearing three separate clicks confirming her orders, she silently started toward a patch of foliage from which she would clearly be able to see the front door without being noticed.

A quiet noise, like the sound of a twig snapping, caused her to stop suddenly and listen to the surrounding jungle.

All at once a hail of gunfire started, and Eris ducked and rolled for cover, aiming her gun in the direction of the sound. "Everybody on me!" she shouted into her comm device. Confirmations sounded in her ear, and she resumed firing into the jungle where the shots and sounds seemed to be coming from as she ducked behind a large log.

Her second in command, Alex McPhee, came darting out of the jungle to her left and knelt beside her.

"Where are Weston and Sinistra?" she yelled over the sound of the gunfire.

As Alex opened his mouth to reply, Jack Weston came running out of the foliage and took cover to Eris's right.

"Gianni's gone," Alex shouted in reply.

"Shit," Eris spat.

"So, what's the plan?" Jack asked.

Eris took a brief moment - a very brief moment - to gather her thoughts and formulate a plan. "All right. Alex, you're on recon - get what you can and get out, bearing in mind that Jack and I can't hold them off forever. Jack, you and I will cover him." Both men nodded in response, then Eris inhaled slowly and shouted, "now!"

She and Jack jumped up from behind the log and opened fire, while Alex ran toward the shack.

"We should split up to divert their attention," Eris suggested as quietly as possible as they ducked back behind the log under the return fire.

"I'll go first," Jack volunteered.

With a nod, Eris took a deep breath, then stood up and sprayed a volley of cover fire for Jack as he ran into the foliage . . . only to be cut down by a hail of gunfire.

"Dammit!" she swore loudly. The gunfire turned on her and she cursed herself for making herself a target as she ducked back behind the log. Flicking a switch at her waist, Eris called into her comm device for Alex.

"Alex," she hissed. "McPhee! Answer me, dammit!" Her only answer was static, and she knew she had lost Alex as well. She was the only one left on her team, and she still had no idea what Cobra was up to.

"Only one choice left now," she muttered to herself, steeling her courage. After checking her assault rifle, Eris stood abruptly and fired into the leaves, then ran into the forest toward the Cobra base.

* * *

A week later two men stood in a dark office at a secret facility deep underground. The office had a desk, a filing cabinet, and a minimal of clutter - a place for everything and everything in it's place.

"So, they only sent four people in?" a man in a three star general's uniform asked bitterly.

"Affirmative," the other replied. "Nobody believed it to be a real threat, not even _our own_ intelligence people - the team was only sent in on the off chance that there might be a few vipers there."

"'The off chance?'" the General echoed angrily. "Jesus." It was clear that he wasn't too happy with the situation.

"The information we gained was quite valuable, though, General Hawk," the man stated as though trying to put a positive spin on the loss of the men. "Captain Bentley pulled off a near impossible feat."

"Hmm," Hawk grunted. He paced a little behind his desk, then asked, "what do you think, Duke?"

"I think she'd be a valuable addition to the team," he replied honestly, "if she's still willing to go into combat after she gets out of the hospital."

"Agreed. I'll contact her C.O. and arrange a meeting as soon as possible," Hawk concluded. "I'd like to hear her version of what happened - if she's up to it."

* * *

Eris had awoken in the secure wing of a military hospital a few days after completing her mission in San Corona with a concussion, a few deep cuts and painful bruises, and a wrapped up gash in her leg where a bullet had grazed her, only to be sedated for yelling at the first person she saw upon waking - her C.O.

The next time she awoke she was much calmer, though anger shone in her eyes. She'd lost five team mates, people she had been very close to, within the space of a week and a half - her team's commander, Wesley Johansson, and Anna Stockwell had been lost only a little over a week before they had been sent to San Corona.

To the surprise of all, she had managed to convince her C.O. to allow her back on duty as soon as she was physically able. She had told him that she needed continue with life as normal, and that her week in the hospital would be more than enough time off, so Colonel Blake had agreed to put her back into action as soon as a new team could be found.

General Hawk had offered G.I. Joe as that new team.

So, two days after Hawk had contacted Colonel Blake to arrange the meeting, Eris stood waiting for him in a large, elaborate office in Ottawa. She stood silently at the window staring out at the Ottawa River.

"You're looking well, Captain," a male voice sounded behind her. "All things considered."

"General," she greeted him respectfully as she turned around.

"As you know, a transfer to the G.I. Joe team is being considered," he began as he sat down in one of the ornate chairs.

"So, let's skip straight to the point - you'd like to know why I'm so anxious to get back into the field so soon after San Corona, and you'd like to find out if I'm mentally fit to do so," she rambled off.

"Well?" General Hawk prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, General," Eris began, "a few weeks vacation and a trip to the shrink won't make my friends any less dead." She swallowed the lump that had suddenly risen in her throat. "And I can't exactly drop out of the war - it's just not within me to do so. Yes, I am angry about what happened - you probably heard about me yelling at Colonel Blake - and who wouldn't be? We had lost two members of our team only a week previously, leaving me in command with a field promotion to Captain. It would have been smarter to send in a full team, rather than us - and there were other teams in the area."

"All right. Now I'd like to hear your version of the events, Captain," he demanded politely.

"We got caught in a trap," she muttered sadly. "After we lost Sinistra, I sent McPhee on recon while Weston and I covered him - within seconds they were both lost. The only thing I could do was complete the mission, or their losses would have been in vain. So, I fired in the direction of the gunfire and took off into the jungle, using the foliage as cover as I ran toward the area where Cobra was supposedly operating. I made it to the shack and went inside, taking out the two guards inside. The only things in there were a bookshelf, a table and a couple of chairs, so I figured 'what the hell', and tried pulling random books on the shelf - one worked, Machiavelli's _The Prince_. The bookshelf swang open and I went down the tunnel behind it, found an underground base, took some pictures and ran like hell, tripping the alarm on my way out. Luckily, I made it back to the airfield outside the village, where our base was located."

General Hawk nodded quietly, a look of contemplation on his face, then spoke. "And if you were offered a position on our team?"

"I would take it, naturally," she replied.

"Why?"

It was a simple question with so many ways to mess the answer up, so Eris decided to go with honesty. "Well, let's face it, General - no matter how much some may deny it or dislike it, the States is _the _superpower in the world, and whenever something bad happens, and I mean _really _bad, G.I. Joe is the first to go in. In all honesty, General, joining your team means going head to head with Cobra - or whoever else happens to be a threat - on a regular basis, and that means keeping my friends and family back home safe, and that's the most important thing to me." She paused and smiled. "That and I'm damned good at my job."

The General studied her carefully, then said, "well, I'll be in touch with you within the next couple of days. If you don't hear from me by week's end, you'll know your answer." With that he got up and left the room, leaving Eris to stare once again at the river.


End file.
